Sports Illustrated Blog #69 – Finally SI Swimsuits ranked – Popularity and Hardest to Find.
Welcome to my Sports Illustrated/TIME magazine blog – Your collector’s guide to the latest hobby updates and insight into what’s trending now.
Swimsuits – Oh Yeah!!! Finally – let’s address one of SI’s greatest successes but also one of their biggest mysteries. Here’s an opportunity.
Early swimsuits in newsstand collector grade are extreme hard to find. Don’t believe me??? – check out ebay and auction completed sales. There aren’t any – or very few and only one here and one there. That’s not because there is no interest – it’s because there is minimal supply.
I’m going to set the record straight. Swimsuits generate as much interest within the hobby as any other subset throughout the entire spectrum. For the purist that is looking for a 1956 Mantle CGC 9.6, the swimsuit collection doesn’t cut it, but if you are a member of the SI masses, swimsuits are very much in demand. Who doesn’t want to be the guy that has one of the highest graded swimsuit collection in the world? The covers are iconic – they chronical the changing swimsuit art through the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s like nothing else out there. It’s not about the sexuality as much as the time and place. They are hard to find in pristine shape as you might expect – they were read from cover to cover. So when the masses finally get it – value on these issues will pull a Jordan. Watch and see.
I thought it might be of interest/value to rank the swimsuits in order of popularity and scarcity to help your buying decisions. I make these rankings based on my personal sales, my customer activity, and demand within the hobby. The secrets exposed here are found nowhere else on the internet, esp. with this credibility.
Top ten toughest to find swimsuits in collectable grade
- 1966
- 1968
- 1970
- 1965
- 1971
- 1972
- 1964
- 1969
- 1967
- 1973
Top Ten Most Popular
- 1964
- 1975
- 1966
- 1965
- 1970
- 1983
- 1978
- 1979
- 1980
- 1981
You may have noticed that I haven’t included the 1954, 1955, and 1957 swimsuits in my listings. That is because I don’t consider them to be part of the yearly sequence that began the historic run in 1964. Although popular within the hobby, they are another subset onto themselves – and in demand.
Below are a few of the swimsuit issues that have become so familiar within the hobby – most are the highest grade on record. If you are interested in owning any of these or all of these for a complete collection, feel free to contact me [email protected] and we can discuss.
I hope you are enjoying the reads on the history of TIME and SI magazines as well as an insight into relevant magazine collecting.
Great collecting to you and best fortunes with Sports Illustrated/TIME!
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